The things we do for our kids..

Well, it's official...we have now seen High School Musical 3 from the local dollar theater no less. It was certainly not our intention to see the movie at the dollar theater, but by the time we got around to seeing it, that is where the movie was showing. Unfortunately, we have a bad habit of doing that. I was pretty impressed we actually made it to a theater instead of having only the renting option available.

So, we lined up a babysitter for Natalie and headed off to the theater. The girls were thrilled, I was excited to get away from the house, and John was merely interested in spending a night with his family. Little did he know what he was in for...a boat load of high school girls sitting all around us cheering at every sexy scene with Troy. You should have seen the looks on his face! It was hilarious!

Of course, the best part of the dollar theater is their incredible popcorn. I certainly don't enjoy this theater's lack of stadium seating, but I definitely enjoy their popcorn because it is unlike any other theater's popcorn I've tasted. Rumor has it the popcorn tastes so good because the theater is co-owned by the business next door, which just so happens to be a popcorn business.

Christmas Tradition at our House

One of our Christmas traditions started with my great Grandpa Carr when he used string to lead his kids to their one and only Christmas present during the depression in the late 1930s. Since they only had one gift each, he wanted to extend the amount of time it took them to find their gift. My grandma continued the tradition with her kids, then I grew up with my mom continuing the tradition, and now John and I have included the tradition in our Christmas festivities. I wonder what my grandpa would think about us continuing on his legacy all of these years later.

It is a fun tradition for the kids, but a pain in the butt for us parents. We can usually be found late on Christmas eve grumbling about the whole process as we lay string through the house - along baseboards, around doorknobs, intertwined through chairs, under rugs - you get the idea. The string usually leads to the most special Santa gift. This year, we decided to get a family gift and invested in a Wii system. This picture of the girls reacting to the end of their string is classic!

Bum Troubles

Okay, so I have a problem. A problem with a certain bum in this household. It just so happens to be Natalie's cute bum. She likes to expose it at the most inopportune times. Apparently, she does not like to wear her diaper anymore, and keeps taking it off when I'm not looking! (No, I do not plan on potty training her yet at 20 months).

She thinks it's funny and laughs when I finally notice. It is definitely not so funny when it is a poopy diaper. I needn't say any more about those lovely experiences. Anyway, she does this often during the day, but her favorite time to take off her diaper is when she goes to bed at night and when she wakes up in the morning. I can usually catch her before she has an accident, but tonight was the exception. Yes, pee had saturated everything in her crib when I went in to check on her. Of course, she is laughing hysterically at this point, which makes it very hard for me to say, "Natalie! hehe, you have to chuckle, chuckle leave your haha diaper on!" Grrr...

Christmas Treats and Visiting Santa

Words cannot express how elated I was to discover no one else got sick in the family after Natalie's bout of the stomach flu on Thursday, which meant we were all able to spend the day visiting with most of the extended family of Rimingtons on Saturday. We spent the day immersing ourselves in everything sugary; fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, and sugar cookies. My kids had so much sugar yesterday, they were on a high until 10 p.m.!

After dinner, we decided to venture out and see the lights over at Willard Bay. The kids were in 7th heaven with all of the cool lights and action packed displays. My favorite part was getting to visit Santa at the end, and get this...NO LINE! That's what I'm talking about! I chuckled at all of the people standing in line for the hay ride and thanked my lucky stars I had forgotten to bring the kids' gloves and hats.

Today we have been attempting to sober up from the sugar fest hangover we had from yesterday, just in time for my German Hotcake Dinner (or breakfast - whatever you want to call it!)loaded with butter, syrup, and powdered sugar! 'Tis the holiday season though, right?

Dana's Musings for the Week

I was so gung ho about my blog last week, that I thought of tons of things to write about, but now it's been nearly a week since my last entry, and I have had nothing interesting to write about! So here are a few snippets of my thoughts this week.

On Monday we attended Alicia's gymnastics recital, open house, show off thing-a-majig...whatever they called it. It was the best recital I've been to in awhile. We arrived and sat around the main gym while they introduced all the girls in Alicia's class level. After they finished their warm ups, they divided out into their classes. We followed her small group around to the different events (balance beam, bars, tramp, vault, and floor). Then we were out of there in less than 45 minutes!! I can definitely handle that after the two hour plus dance recitals we were used to.

On Tuesday, I got to go to the cannery. I carpooled with my friend, who spent about the same amount I did, but walked away with twice as many boxes as me! Turns out wheat is a whole lot cheaper than things like carrots and apple slices. I was hoping to add some fun things to our uninteresting supply of wheat, rice, and noodles.

Last night, I needed to go grocery shopping and told John I might be awhile as I wanted to go to Sam's Club and Smith's. I returned home at 9:30 p.m. and noticed Natalie's light was still on...not a good sign as she goes to bed at 8 p.m. I walked in to see my loving husband giving her a bath and cleaning up her bed after she had thrown up. We got her settled back into bed thinking maybe she just ate something funny.

We crashed into bed shortly after 11 p.m. with dreams of sugarplums dancing in our heads. Of course, my dreams were interrupted at midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 3:30 a.m., and 5 a.m. to Natalie getting sick. So much for a long winter's nap. Now begins the waiting game to see if anyone else in the family shares her fate. We are praying that we stay healthy as we have some fun plans with family visiting from out of town.

P.S. Note the day of the week when she got sick...please refer to the Nursery posting listed below.

Special Christmas Treat

Yes, that is my yummy Rocky Road Fudge you are looking at - one of my absolutely favorite Christmas treats filled to the hilt with sugar, butter, chocolate and marshmallows. You just cannot go wrong with any combination of those ingredients!

It all started with my grandma when she made it for us as kids. In fact, I remember having to go out to the garage to snatch a piece in our attempts to hide it from my mom (at her request). Now that I have made it myself and seen the extreme amounts of sugar loaded into each delicious bite, I can see why she made her odd request.

Here is the recipe if you are interested in trying it (beware, a lot of stirring is required!). In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I remember a funny story that goes along with the extreme stirring of fudge. The first Christmas John and I were married, I made fudge in our dinky little kitchen up in Logan. He called me from the library to say he was done studying, and would I mind coming to pick him up since it was below freezing temperatures. I had the gall to tell him he needed to wait a few minutes as I was right in the middle of the 10 minute stirring process!!

See's Fudge

4 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cubes margarine
1 tsp. salt
1 tall can evaporated milk
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow cream
chopped nuts, marshmallows

Mix sugar, margarine, milk, salt, and vanilla on medium for approx. 5 minutes until boiling. Boil for 9 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove and add chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add marshmallow creme and stir until well blended. Stir in chopped nuts and marshmallows, then pour into butter pan quickly. Refrigerate or keep cold in garage during wintertime.

Nursery - The Good, The Bad, and the Snotty

I absolutely love the fact that Natalie is in nursery now at church, which now allows us to enjoy our classes (John in Sunday School, and me in primary as the chorister). However, this is the schedule we have been following since she started 2 months ago:

1st Sunday - Attend nursery healthy as a clam.
Following Thursday - Exhibit signs of runny nose, fever, cough, or some other unpleasant illness.
2nd Sunday - Stay home from church as a result of unpleasant illness.
3rd Sunday - Healthy again! Attend nursery.
Following Thursday - more snot. Oh no, not again.
4th Sunday - yup, still sick - stay home from church again.

I am not kidding you - we have literally followed this pattern for 2 months, and yes, you guessed it, it's Thursday Snot Day as she went to nursery on Sunday. Ugh. Let the cycle continue.

Best Christmas Invention Yet

Our Christmas stockings finally have a home!! These 3M hanger thingies that you can put up and then remove without damaging paint has now allowed me to hang our stockings next to our tree. I have had quite the time trying to find just the right spot for our stockings over the years. I know what you're thinking...why don't I just hang the darn things up on the fireplace where they belong? Yes, I know we have a fireplace mantle, but it is in the family room - no where near any of my yuletide decorations, all firmly planted in the living room.

So, our first few years living in this house, I merely pulled them out of the humble Christmas box on Christmas Eve and put them on the couch. After a few years of this, I decided I actually wanted to enjoy the stockings I had worked so hard on (if you squint real hard, you might be able to see the intricate stitchery on the white fluff).

Anyway, I decided to tactfully (if you could call it that) tape them to my banister, which is near the living room. It pains me to even admit this because now you know I am not an interior decorator by nature. Tape on the banister lasted only two years before I decided I needed to rethink my stocking display. Last year I ended up just laying them across the top of the couch, thus allowing any visitors the wonderful opportunity of moving a stocking in order to sit down.

I was out of options, and desperate for another way to display my stockings this year, when what to my wondering eye, I beheld the wondrous new 3M invention my neighbor used for her stockings!! I am now enjoying our lovely new living room decor.

Gingerbread Houses

It is a Rimington tradition to make gingerbread houses for Christmas and this year was no exception.

Natalie even got into it, although her idea of decorating meant me putting some icing onto the house and pointing at it for her to put a piece of candy on it. She would proceed to put her candy on the icing and then immediately put it into her mouth! She kept doing this over and over again. I guess she thought the icing was a dip! She finally got the hang of it and finished off her house.

Kimberly and Alicia went to town on theirs spending a good couple of hours working on them. Maybe we should have done the gingerbread houses on a night other than a school night, as they got to bed quite late because they wanted to keep going.


Here is how we make our gingerbread houses:

Cut up graham crackers
Glue together with Royal Meringue Frosting

Royal Meringue Frosting:
3 T. Wilton Meringue Powder Mix (you can find this in the wedding section of any craft store)
4 cups powdered sugar
6 T.* Water *If using a Kitchen aid, use only 5 tablespoons)
Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7 to 10 minutes, or until icing forms peaks.
Use immediately.
Cover bowl with a wet towel when not in use to keep soft.

Wow!! I have finally entered the blogging scene. After following several blog sites and having several people tell me I ought to consider doing one myself, I have succumbed to peer pressure. I have really enjoyed how it has connected me to other people's daily lives, especially my family members and friends who live far away.

I have just finished a fun and cute craft project that I did with my friend and neighbor, Melissa. It is an advent calendar using Wilton Favor Tins filled with candy for each day of the the month. It is so cute! The only problem is that after hanging it on the wall, several of the cans have popped open (solution: less candy), and some of the numbers or decorations on the lid keep falling off (solution: more tape). Hopefully by the end of the day, I'll get all the kinks worked out.

Okay, it is now an hour after I hung it up and the entire thing just fell to the floor! Candy is everywhere! Good thing Natalie is taking her nap, or she'd have a candy hayday! It looks like the ribbon hanging the contraption up just broke. I may have to use something else. Hmmm....